Artie moved towards the woods and Dennie took off,
skirting the edge of the clearing, to follow him. Chet, still transfixed
in shock, never even noticed Dennie leave.

Although Dennie wanted desperately
to catch up with Artie and envelope him in a good old-fashioned bear hug,
he restrained himself. Though Artie was alive, he was under the influence
of something. The something being whatever had been in the bowl Artie and
the others had drank from.

If Dennie wanted to rescue Artie, and there was nothing he wanted more,
he would have to stay out of sight of Artie, the other victims, and
whoever was in charge until he knew exactly what was going on.

Dennie followed discreetly until Artie stopped by a shed. Someone, he was
too far away for a good look, handed Artie a shovel. Artie then made his
way over to where several of the other zombies were digging and joined
them.

"Slave labor," Dennie said to himself in disgust. "Someone's giving these
people the bare minimum they need to stay alive and getting their work
done for free. But why the ceremony?" he wondered, his forehead creased
in thought.

Dennie stayed and watched Artie for the rest of the evening. As dawn grew
near, the undead workers returned their equipment after a short man
barked at them in Native Hiatian. Artie, not understanding the language,
kept on digging until another man came forward and shouted, "Return your
shovel and go to the cave."

Artie followed the others to the tool shed where they, after turning
in their equipment, turned and headed for the edge of the clearing where
Dennie was hidden!

Growling, Dennie backed away a little, then climbed a tree. He would wait
until they passed before climbing down and following them.

Dennie watched silently as the abused individuals passed below, his heart
going out to them as a child, no more than ten, followed a woman well
into her sixties.

As the last of them moved off, Dennie made to climb down but stopped as
he heard more footsteps coming his way. Unlike the steps of the zombies
which were irregular and trampled any and all branches in their path,
these were quieter and made no sound except for the soft thud as food met
solid earth.

Dennie stayed where he was cursing silently because he was unable to
follow Artie and the others now.

The footsteps drew nearer and stopped. Dennie peered down and saw the man
who had shouted at Artie in English. Unable to get a good look at the
man, Dennie could still see his short dark brown hair and navy short-sleeved
shirt. He was wearing black pants and seemed to be waiting for someone.

The eerie glow of dawn became bright as the sun began to climb higher
in the sky. Over forty minutes later, Dennie's legs were beginning to ache.
The man below had sat down and was resting his back against the tree.
Should he look up, Dennie would be seen, but the man kept looking forward.
Dennie thought he may have fallen asleep. He wondered who was so important
that this man would wait in the middle of the woods.

Twenty more minutes and another person appeared. Appeared, for Dennie had
not seen, nor heard, the man approach. Neither had the man leaning
against the tree, for when the newcomer spoke, the man leapt to his feet.
Although Dennie didn't understand what was being said, he felt sure the man
was apologizing for a moment later, the newcomer held up a hand and the
first man fell silent.

Dennie heard the conversation and tried to remember some of the words so
he could ask Jima what they meant. He was sure the small man was someone
of importance. After a few minutes the man left and the other man, after
kneeling and tying his shoe, also departed. By the time Dennie descended
from the tree, both men were gone.

Dennie pulled out his map of the plantation and retraced his trip. He was
somewhere on a neighboring plantation. Dennie wondered briefly if this one
belonged to Jima's family as he marked the clearing on the map.

Back at the guest house Chet, Biff and Phil were all waiting
anxiously. Biff and Phil had not witnessed the ceremony last evening and
were finding what Chet told them a bit hard to swallow.

Chet had remained where Dennie left him and watched as the zombies
disappeared from view. Then the people rose to their feet and began
dancing. Soon, however, all fell quiet as a beautiful dark-skinned young
woman arrived. She was dressed in a long, silver gown and her face
sparkled as the firelight danced off the flecks of glitter on her face.

The silence then faded as the three drummers began again. The young
woman flirted with the men as the women rushed to her with offerings of
lace and jewelry.

As the night wore on, the young woman seemed to grow depressed, she
left near dawn and the ceremony began to wind down. Chet remained where
he was until everyone had left. He made his way back to the guest house
and waited for the others to return.

When Biff and Phil entered the house, Chet was waiting in the entryway
and told them about seeing Artie and Dennie following him.

The Mondello Boys belong to Simon and Schuster and the Stratemeyer Foundation. The
Mondello Boys Fan Fiction authors of the
Mondello Detective Agency have just borrowed them for an adventure or
two. The authors promise to put the boys back when they are done with them. The
authors do claim copyright to the original characters in this story. Please do
not borrow original characters without express permission of the authors.